Playful Dragon: Messing and missing trade

Abstract

An examination of available data reveals large trade misinvoicing between the People’s Republic of China and identified trade partners. The analysis finds a net trade misinvoicing of US$ 287.6 billion between 2000 and 2005, while the full magnitude of unrecorded trade is estimated at US$ 1.4 trillion. Further analysis also finds that there is an accounted misinvoicing or missing trade of US$ 53.7 billion for the same period. China needs to have more effective management of its trade flows. At the same time, the international community needs to contribute to put up more effective governance mechanisms to address trade misinvoicing.